Contents

Origins as a housing
development

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful
housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, whom the park was named
after. It was inspired by the English garden
city movement; hence the original English name Park
(in the Catalan language spoken in Catalonia where Barcelona is
located, the word for "Park" is "Parc", and the name of the place
is "Parc Güell" in its origin language). The site was a rocky hill
with little vegetation and few trees, called Montaña Pelada (Bare
Mountain). It already included a large country house called Larrard
House or Muntaner de Dalt House, and was next to a neighborhood of
upper class houses called La Salud. The intention was to exploit
the fresh air (well away from smoky factories) and beautiful views
from the site, with sixty triangular lots being provided for luxury
houses. Count Eusebi Güell added to the prestige of the development
by moving in 1906 to live in Larrard House. Ultimately, only two
houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí. One was intended to
be a show house, but on being completed in 1904 was put up for
sale, and as no buyers came forward, Gaudí, at Güell's suggestion,
bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his
father in 1906. [1]

Municipal
garden

It has since been converted into a municipal garden. It can be
reached by underground railway (although the stations are at a
distance from the Park), by city buses, or by commercial tourist
buses. While entrance to the Park is free, Gaudí's house, "la Torre
Rosa," — containing furniture that he designed — can be only
visited for an entrance fee. There is a reduced rate for those
wishing to see both Park Güell and the Sagrada
Familia.

Gaudí's mosaic work on the main terrace

Gaudí's multicolored mosaic dragon fountain at the main entrance,
prior to vandalism early in 2007

Park Güell is skillfully designed and composed to bring the
peace and calm that one would expect from a park. The buildings
flanking the entrance, though very original and remarkable with
fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, fit in well with
the use of the park as pleasure gardens and seem relatively
inconspicuous in the landscape when one considers the flamboyance
of other buildings designed by Gaudí.

The focal point of the park is the main terrace, surrounded by a
long bench in the form of a sea serpent. To design the curvature of the
bench surface Gaudí used the shape of buttocks left by a naked
workman sitting in wet clay. The curves of the serpent bench form a
number of enclaves, creating a more social atmosphere. Gaudí
incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, and elements from
religious mysticism and ancient poetry, into the Park. The visitor
was originally greeted by two life-size mechanical gazelles (a major euphemistic
symbol of 'the young beloved' in the Hebrew strand of the medieval
love poetry of the
region), but these have since been lost during the turbulence
of war.

Roadways around the park to service the intended houses were
designed by Gaudí as structures jutting out from the steep hillside
or running on viaducts, with separate footpaths in arcades formed
under these structures. This minimized the intrusion of the roads,
and Gaudí designed them using local stone in a way that integrates
them closely into the landscape. His structures echo natural forms,
with columns like tree trunks supporting branching vaulting under the roadway, and
the curves of vaulting and alignment of sloping columns designed in
a similar way to his Church of Colònia Güell so that
the inverted catenary arch
shapes form perfect compression structures.[2]

The large cross at the Park's high-point offers the most
complete view of Barcelona and the bay. It is possible to view the
main city in panorama, with the Sagrada Familia and the Montjuïc area visible at
a distance.

The observant visitor will notice green birds flying around
amongst the pigeons and sparrows. These are
monk parakeets, either deliberately
released to add further colour to the park or escapes from
captivity. Like the pigeons they nest in the tall palm trees.

The two buildings at the entrance of the park.

Gallery of
images

View from the upper level of the park.

Entrance to the Park.

The dragon, as restored after the vandalism of February
2007.

Doric columns support the roof of the lower court which forms
the central terrace, with serpentine seating round its edge.

The unique shape of the serpentine bench enables the people
sitting on it to converse privately, although the square is large.
The bench is tiled and in order to dry up quickly after it rains,
and to stop people from sitting in the wet part of the bench, small
bumps were installed by Gaudí.

Bird nests built by Gaudí in the terrace walls. The walls
imitate the trees planted on them.

An uninterrupted view of the terrace walls.

Roadway in the Park - resembles the pine trees of the park. In
order to fit in, the road and walkway structures between the
terraces were built with stones quarried within the park. Bird
nests have been installed in the walkways.

Colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct, with external
columns sloping to take the diagonal thrust from the vault
supporting the road.

Colonnaded pathway where the road projects out from the
hillside, with the vaulting forming a retaining wall which curves over to
support the road, and transmits the load onto sloping columns.